Pariah: Outtakes
by Starfire201
Summary: A selection of short scenes that for one reason or another never made it into Pariah.
1. Skyfire: Foundation

**A/N:** Welcome to Pariah Outtakes. This will be a one-shot series of scenes that I initially wrote for Pariah that I couldn't make fit or had to rewrite, such as the case may be. Just some fillers to show how it might have looked from another character's POV or other possibilities of what direction it could have gone. Will be ongoing for the duration of Pariah.

Thank you to **silberstreif** for the suggestion for this series.

Some of you might recognize the following scene from Chapter 13 of Pariah. There is a reason for that. Initially, when I wrote that memory scene for Starscream, I had done it originally from Skyfire's POV. When I was done, I realized it would look a bit too strange, since Starscream was having this memory and not Skyfire, so I altered it accordingly.

Here is what I originally wrote. It has been expanded on slightly and edited to be a bit more readable.

* * *

**Skyfire: Foundation**

"Why did you refuse my withdrawal request?"

The unexpected question had Skyfire looking up to see his best student standing in front of him with a datapad clenched tightly in his hands, optics glowing brightly, wings trembling with rage.

Skyfire couldn't say he was surprised by this outburst. The jet had made it quite clear in his request that he'd had enough and more or less stated that he wanted to be out of the Academy as quickly as Skyfire could put his name glyphs to the withdrawal form. Skyfire tended to keep aware of his students' personalities and knew Starscream had a temper. He'd known that the moment he sent the refusal, Starscream would be marching in to argue his way out.

And that was something Skyfire wasn't about to let happen.

The Valkyrie laid down the essays he'd been grading, and looked straight at the other flier. "Because it would be a shame to see you throwing your talent away. That's why." He spoke the words calmly and evenly.

The Seeker snarled, "Why bother? They all want me gone anyway. I know some of the other instructors have said to you that it's too bad you have a war-build who's always causing trouble in your class." He threw the datapad down onto the desk. "So why don't you just sign this and put us all out of our misery?"

Instead of taking the datapad, Skyfire just leaned forward and looked at him speculatively for a moment before speaking. "Is this how you intend to solve all your problems, Starscream? By running away?"

A startled look appeared on his student's face, and he didn't answer. Clearly, he hadn't expected that question. Skyfire gave a small smile.

"Because it seems to me that by just withdrawing and returning to Vos, you would give those who are trying to force you out just what they want. You're letting them win."

The startled expression disappeared and was replaced with a sullen one. "You wouldn't understand."

Skyfire shook his head as some old hurtful memories resurfaced. He couldn't keep a bitter smile from his face. "You're wrong. I'm a flier, too, Starscream. You don't think I haven't had my own difficult experiences here? How many other fliers have you seen at the Academy?"

Starscream's optics widened and he didn't respond. Skyfire noticed, and pushed his advantage. "It wasn't easy for me to deal with the comments, either. Some orns, I also wanted to quit."

A surprised look appeared on the other flier's face. "So why did you stay?" The tone was a mixture of curiosity and hurt. Skyfire wasn't surprised. As Starscream had said, other instructors had "suggested" to him that it would be a good idea if he failed the young mech. And he'd heard some of the other tales that had circulated of his temper and lack of work ethic. The temper issue, Skyfire could agree with, but he had a bit of a temper of his own and had learned how to channel it over the vorns. It would be a challenge, but he suspected he could do the same for Starscream given time. But if Starscream left, that wouldn't happen.

As for the lack of work ethic, well, Skyfire knew that part was a lie. He didn't even want to think of what some of his fellow instructors might have done, but unfortunately, he thought he could hazard a pretty good guess.

But that was speculation best left for later. Right now, he had to convince his best student that leaving would be a mistake. Starscream had asked a good question and deserved an answer. Skyfire would give him one.

Skyfire leaned back in his chair. "I had an instructor of my own who appreciated my ability." How well he remembered Celsion's lessons. The mech hadn't been a flier, but he'd been one of the most open-minded mechs Skyfire had ever known. A mech who'd obviously cared for science and had appreciated having a student so willing and eager to learn in spite of being the target of some cruel jokes. _Seems like I'm following in his footsteps now_, he thought half-ruefully, half-amusedly. Knowing this was his last chance to convince the Seeker, he sighed and continued in a more level tone: "Starscream, it's easy to see that you have a natural aptitude for Biomechanics and Engineering. You pick up and utilize skills quickly and very seldom make an error. When you do make one, you just keep running it over and over until you get the experiment error-free. That indicates strong interest as well. Ability and interest are not confined to one particular frame-type, regardless of what anyone else says."

Starscream didn't answer. He just stared at Skyfire as though he'd never seen him before.

Skyfire looked him in the optics, knowing he had him now. "So which will it be, Starscream? Staying and proving what you can do? Or running away?"

Starscream didn't answer right away, just stared with that same gob-smacked expression. Then, after a few kliks, a sneer replaced it and he said snidely, "Fine, but only because I choose to. Not because you said not to go."

With that, he grabbed the datapad off of the desk and stormed out of the room. Skyfire shook his head and chuckled as he went back to the essays. _Primus, what have I gotten myself into?_

Skyfire had the feeling that his life was certainly about to get far more interesting.


	2. The Paths Not Taken

**A/N:** The following two sections were pieces I initially wrote to begin the chapters of chapters 5 and 14.

For chapter 5, my initial idea was to show a bit of the direct aftermath of Simfur, basically describing the reactions of both the survivors and the Autobots, and trying to show when the seeds of distrust were planted between them and the Neutrals. But it wasn't going where I wanted it to go, and I wasn't sure how best to continue it, so I eventually discarded that idea, soon after coming up with the scene in the Medbay between Ratchet and Optimus.

The section for chapter 14 was my 1st idea to start out the chapter. I was trying to come up with a good lead-up to the conversation between TC and Starscream, but again, I couldn't really make it go as I wanted to. It didn't feel right. But I did like a few of the ideas I came up with (the comm. call, Megatron's actions, the description of the arena) and ended up incorporating pieces of those into what became the final version of the chapter.

In both cases, the differences are very obvious.

* * *

**The Paths Not Taken**

_Original planned start for Chapter 5_

**Iacon, Autobot Headquarters, 15 orns later**

Looking back long afterwards, if he were asked, Optimus Prime would willingly admit that the orns following the battle at Simfur and its destruction proved to be dark ones for the Autobots. The loss of one of the more important city-states had been a heavy blow for morale in what was left of the troops, dropping further when the fact became known that they had lost over a third of the soldiers sent there.

The scouts sent to search the ruins had eventually discovered a handful of survivors, about thirty of them, but by and large, the efforts had become more recovery rather than search and rescue. Jazz and some of his agents attempted to piece together the ruined databases of the city in order to determine a final death toll for the city. What they'd learned from those databases was even worse than Prime had feared. The city had contained nearly seventeen thousand mechs and femmes. The shells and limbs pulled out were eventually pieced together, and when the final count was made, it seemed that approximately twelve thousand had perished; though some of those victims were suspected to be those who had died of starvation before the walls fell. Around five thousand mechs and femmes were still unaccounted for, and there was no way to confirm if they were prisoners of the Decepticons or had been outside of Simfur before the siege began.

And if they were prisoners, there was no doubt in the processors of Optimus or his officers that they were already as good as dead. Megatron had likely either reprogrammed them to serve in his ranks or had them killed in revenge for the insult he had received. As for the known survivors, most had preferred to take their chances living in the ruins. The majority seemed to blame the Autobots as much as the Decepticons for what had happened to the city, believing they should have come sooner. If they had, many of the survivors said, the city wouldn't have fallen and they wouldn't have been slaughtered. Only seven had chosen to join the ranks of the Autobots. Not enough to balance the losses the Autobots had taken in the battle, but every few helped.

Unfortunately, the words left a lasting effect. At the officers' meeting fifteen orns after the battle, when Jazz had given his report on what the survivors had said, Ironhide had leaped from his chair, furious.

"Their blasted Emirate caused the siege in the first place! Where do those slaggers get off blaming _us_ for what happened to their city?!"

"Ironhide..." began Optimus. While he privately agreed with Ironhide's statements, he also knew that at this point, casting blame would not help matters. He let out a tired intake and continued.

"They are speaking from grief and anger. They have seen their homes, friends and family units destroyed, and livelihoods lost. They are looking for someone to blame, and we happen to be it."

Ironhide's response had been cold. "Doesn't make it right. We shed energon for those ungrateful fraggers. Not our fault that their Emirate had a big mouth and ego to match, and the 'Con leader wasn't much better."

Prowl had interjected grimly at this point. "While I cannot say I disagree, and I am certain that everyone here shares your beliefs to a point, their Emirate and those in power in Simfur are among the dead and missing. It is likely preferable for the survivors to blame the living rather than the dead for what happened."

Ironhide had snorted. "Still don't make it right. The Emirate and his council called the Decepticons cowards and practically invited them to their doorstep. If the survivors don't wanna blame the dead, they should be blamin' the 'Cons instead of us."

He let out a sharp intake. "I know I blame 'em. Lost a lotta mechs out there, Prowl. I may not have liked a lot of 'em, but we lost mechs we couldn't afford because of the Emirate's big mouth and Buckethead's ego."

Without another word, he turned and stalked out of the room.

It didn't take long for the word to get out, and Optimus believed that this was the beginning of the souring of relations between the Neutrals and the Autobots. The words were seen by the army at large as an insult to those who had fought and died or were injured; almost as if they had wasted their time in helping a city which had turned out to be ungrateful for their efforts. From then on, the rank and file acted coldly towards any Neutral who approached them, and eventually, the Neutrals returned the favor. As time went on, Prime would find himself wondering just how many potential recruits they had lost due to words spoken by angry survivors of a lost city.

* * *

_Original planned start for chapter 14_

In the center of Kaon stands a circular black structure. From the outside, it appears old and run down, holes in the walls where panels of metal have fallen out. Cyberrats and other vermin creep around the holes and into the tunnels leading inside the building scavenging for whatever they can find. If one would walk through those tunnels, they would find dark remnants of this structure's past: Energon stains on the walls and floors, and if they were to go deeper, they would find cells and a room with a large cold furnace with what seem to be limbs and other parts scattered around.

But if one were to follow those tunnels up instead of down, they would find instead entrance ways that would lead to rows upon rows of seats, going up and around in a theater-like formation. Looking down towards the last row of chairs, half-eaten away by acid rain, one would see the barrier walls with what would seem to be barred gateways. The bars are half rusted, and some gaps exist to show where others have fallen away.

Beyond the wall is a large patch of ground with a chain and cuffs in the middle. The ground also has various stains of energon littering the ground. Old stains, which hint at a dark history.

A history about to be revisited.

For these grounds are no longer empty, and Kaon's gladiator arena is about to bear witness to another show...

_::Unit Punch to Commander Jazz::_

_::Jazz here. What's the word, Punch?::_

_::Megatron and the others left the cell unit a few kliks ago, according to Ramjet.::_

Silence for a moment.

_::And?::_

_::Still alive, apparently; though not for much longer if what Ramjet said was true.::_

_::What else did he say, Punch?::_

_::He doesn't know why, but Megatron gave Starscream to Stormraiser and the other Seekers to deal with. According to him, Stormraiser doesn't know why either, but doesn't really care.::_

_::Anything else?::_

_::They've sent for the base medic, to repair him enough so that he'll survive for whatever Stormraiser has planned. Once finished, he's to be transported to the arena in the center of Kaon.::_

Stormraiser just stood at the entranceway to the arena grounds, a cold smirk on his face as he watched two of Shockwave's drones fasten the unconscious Seeker to the ground in a kneeling position. The jet had a massive hole in his right wing, and most of the lower half of his right arm was melted off, along with most of the armor on the right side of his chassis. All the circuitry in those areas were burned away, and the exposed protoform that could be seen was also heavily damaged, and would require some transplants to be functional again. Since the arm was deemed to be useless and the Seeker had no weapons now, only one of his wrists was cuffed and hooked up.

However, the mech would never have the chance to receive the medical care he needed, reflected the Air Commander with some satisfaction...

_Megatron turned away from the unconscious Seeker hanging on the wall. His gaze fixed on Stormraiser, who stiffened at the sight of the Warlord's attention, his face immediately going slack. A cold smile crossed the Decepticon leader's face._

_"Stormraiser, since you and your Trine performed so well, I have a...reward for you."_

_Stormraiser's optics widened briefly at the words. "A reward, Sire?"_

_A cold, dark laugh. "Oh, yes." He glanced back at the Seeker on the wall for a moment with the same cold smirk. "A very _special _reward."_

For whatever reason, Lord Megatron had decided to hand the traitor over to he and the other Seekers. It _had_ been a surprise that his lord hadn't finished the job, but Stormraiser wasn't going to question the Decepticon leader's decision. Not this time. He'd been given a perfect opportunity, one which he wouldn't waste.

Once the drones were finished, he dismissed them. Once they had left, he turned to his Trinemates. "Skywarp, you and I will go fetch the others. Thundercracker, stay and guard the prisoner."

Thundercracker nodded, but Skywarp glared at his Trineleader. "How come he gets to guard the traitor and I don't? You know I've been looking forward to this!"

"Yes, but we need him alive for the demonstration, and you wouldn't be able to restrain yourself before the others arrived," Stormraiser stated calmly, well-used to his Third's petulance and his enjoyment of violence. "Besides, wouldn't it be more entertaining if there was an audience?"

Skywarp looked thoughtfully over at the chained Seeker at that comment. Then the glare faded, to be replaced by a very cruel grin. "Yeah. Yeah, it would."


	3. Thundercracker: Respect

**A/N: **Basically, this is a reconstructed scene initially planned for Chapter 14, describing TC's thoughts regarding Starscream and why he started the conversation. My original idea was doing the entire conversation from TC's POV, but in the end, I backed off from it. I just was just too uncertain about whether I could get into his head well enough to speak in his voice. So I went back to Starscream's POV. Even looking at this now, I'm still not 100% sure I managed it well enough.

I'll let you readers be the judge, however, seeing as I'll be having to write TC in more depth at some point (whether for this or another story I'm working on) and wouldn't mind advice on the matter.

Here is what I imagined was in his head just prior to the conversation.

* * *

Thundercracker gazed at the chained Seeker sitting on the far side of the arena, pondering as he did so.

Specifically about the failed attack on Vos by the Senate.

He could remember so clearly even now the day of the attack, the cries to mobilize, the panic of the handful of civilian Seekers (who hadn't been made aware of the attack like the military had been) as the alarms went off, the taking to the skies and driving off the attackers. And, once the battle was over and the dead counted and gathered for smelting, the rage that took Vos over the fact that the Senate would dare attack them, just because they were afraid of what _might_ happen.

_Silverwing, Torrent, Starshatter, Skytwist..._

Those names along with so many others were seared into Thundercracker's Spark. Seekers he'd grown up with, had known for vorns, fought alongside in the early orns of the war just before the attack...If he'd ever been hesitant about this war before that orn, their deaths had erased those doubts, and all that was left was the rage that his home was nearly destroyed.

For hundreds of vorns, he threw himself into fighting the Autobots, never questioning what he was doing. As far as he was concerned, they were Senate flunkies fighting for a corrupt system and deserved what they got for it. Skywarp agreed completely, as did Stormraiser, and all of them fought harder than they'd ever had.

Then had come Simfur and Copperwire's report: A Seeker had fought alongside the Autobots there. A report confirmed by one of the grounders who'd also seen and then shot him.

That had shaken Thundercracker then, though he'd been careful not to betray that to anyone else. Why would a Seeker fight with Senate flunkies? He could remember how the shock had mingled with a sense of betrayal, and the old anger. As time went on, and more details of the rogue tetrajet became known, those emotions became tangled with the original curiosity. _Why?_

It didn't really make sense to Thundercracker why a Seeker who'd been subjected to such a public trial, convicted, and sentenced to life in prison (and it had certainly puzzled the blue Seeker why they hadn't just executed the mech) by the Senate would be so willing to fight for the Autobots.

Why a Vosian would turn their back on their native home, ignore the injustices his frametype and build faced?

Did he even know? Or care?

Shaking his head, Thundercracker turned his gaze to the ground as he recalled what came next.

The tension concerning the Autobot Seeker had increased when it had become clear that Megatron had seemed to be discounting Stormraiser's advice and abilities as Air Commander. His Trineleader had said little about it to he and Skywarp, but anyone with a working processor could guess that the Air Commander was no longer in Megatron's favor for some reason, and that the change had started soon after Stormraiser had had a private chat with Megatron one orn.

Most thought that Stormraiser had disparaged Soundwave or Shockwave one too many times. Skywarp and he knew better. They'd known their wingleader had found out some information on the Seeker and decided it would be a good idea to take it to Megatron. He'd not been pleased when he'd realized his attempt to curry favor had backfired on him.

But he hadn't taken it out on his wingmates. No, his anger was directed at the maimed Seeker now chained to the ground. The green-gray jet had been looking forward to the moment where the mech would die, whether at his hands or another's, something Skywarp agreed with completely. Not a single Seeker would mind seeing the show that Stormraiser had in mind...a show that Thundercracker was no longer certain he agreed with. Yes, in spite of his curiosity, he'd felt that any Seeker who'd betrayed Vos should suffer the penalty, but then he'd seen that Seeker fight, he'd seen that Seeker stand up to Megatron. For the first time, he'd found himself feeling a strange sort of respect for the mech, and the old curiosity reared its head, this time with new questions alongside the old.

Why did he he refuse and turn away from a chance at revenge? No doubt he was vilified for his history, and certainly he had to know by this point that refusing Megatron would gain him nothing but death, and yet he chose to stand with those who hated him. What held him there? Why would he stay away?

Who _was_ this Starscream?

The rattling of a chain brought Thundercracker out of his thoughts. A glance towards the opposite end of the arena showed him that the tri-colored jet was once more online.

Thundercracker stepped forward.

It was time to get his answers.


End file.
